All posts tagged: hotel

Soldier who exploded Tesla Cybertruck outside Trump hotel ‘used generative AI to plan attack’ | US News

Soldier who exploded Tesla Cybertruck outside Trump hotel ‘used generative AI to plan attack’ | US News

Published by skeptic

A soldier who exploded a Tesla Cybertruck outside the Trump hotel in Las Vegas used generative AI – including ChatGPT – to help plan the attack, police have said. Matthew Livelsberger, 37, a US Army Green Beret, fatally shot himself just before the truck blew up outside the hotel on New Year’s Day. Police in Las Vegas say they have now reviewed Livelsberger’s ChatGPT searches prior to the explosion. According to officers, the searches indicate he was looking for information on explosive targets, the speed at which certain rounds of ammunition would travel, and whether fireworks were legal in Arizona. Image: Matthew Alan Livelsberger Kevin McMahill, sheriff of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, called Livelsberger’s use of generative AI in planning the attack a “game changer”. “This is the first incident that I’m aware of on US soil where ChatGPT is utilised to help an individual build a particular device,” he said. “It’s a concerning moment.” Officials said last week that Livelsberger left notes in which he labelled the explosion as a stunt which …

The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami: Masterful Speculative Fiction

The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami: Masterful Speculative Fiction

Published by skeptic

In her latest novel The Dream Hotel, Pulitzer Prize finalist Laila Lalami crafts a chilling vision of a surveillance state where even our dreams are monitored and commodified. This gripping speculative fiction follows Sara Hussein, a museum archivist detained by authorities who claim her dreams indicate she will commit a violent crime. What begins as a 21-day “retention” transforms into a nearly year-long ordeal that exposes the human cost of unchecked technological control. Writing Style and Narrative Structure Lalami’s prose is elegantly restrained yet charged with quiet intensity. The narrative alternates between Sara’s present-day experiences at Madison retention facility and flashbacks that gradually reveal how surveillance technology has infiltrated every aspect of modern life. Through this structure, Lalami masterfully builds tension while exploring deeper themes about privacy, freedom, and resistance. The author’s background in post-colonial studies enriches her examination of power structures and systematic oppression. Her keen eye for detail brings the sterile world of Madison to vivid life—from the “chrome-plated lights” dating back to its days as a public school to the “blank purity” …

FTC bans hidden junk fees in hotel, event ticket prices

FTC bans hidden junk fees in hotel, event ticket prices

Published by Sam

U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on protecting consumers from hidden junk fees during an event at the South Court Auditorium at Eisenhower Executive Office Building on June 15, 2023 in Washington, DC. Alex Wong | Getty Images The U.S. Federal Trade Commission passed a rule on Tuesday requiring ticket sellers, hotels and vacation rental sites to disclose total prices, including fees upfront, prohibiting them from concealing add-on charges until the last minute. The rule is one of the final pieces of President Joe Biden’s wide-ranging crackdown on junk fees that drive up consumer costs without providing visible benefits. “We all know the experience of encountering a hidden fee at the very last stage of checkout — these junk fees sneak onto your bill and companies end up making you pay more because they can. Those fees add up, taking real money out of the pockets of Americans,” Biden said in a statement. President-elect Donald Trump could seek to withdraw the rule for further review, and Republicans who will have control of Congress could seek …

Royal Hotel on IoW sold through Christie & Co

Royal Hotel on IoW sold through Christie & Co

Published by skeptic

The independently owned and successful ‘Royal Hotel’ on the south coast of the Isle of Wight has been sold, via Christie & Co. The hotel in Ventnor was built in 1832 and features 51-ensuite bedrooms, an extensive bar and a restaurant with panoramic sea views over the English Channel. It has been independently owned and operated by William Bailey since 1994, who has been responsible for upgrading the facilities and significantly widening its customer base. The hotel has numerous accolades including a four-silver-star 2023 AA hotel accreditation and a 2023 AA two Rosette award for culinary excellence. William Bailey, said: “Whilst it is of course sad to have sold a business with which we have been involved for almost 30 years, now is the right time to step back. “We wish the new owners every success during their ownership of this great and profitable hotel in a picturesque location on the Isle of Wight. Most importantly we would like to thank the staff, with whom we have shared this memorable journey, for their hard work …

Liam Payne death latest: Details, hotel room pictures and One Direction statement from Harry, Niall, Zayn and Louis

Liam Payne death latest: Details, hotel room pictures and One Direction statement from Harry, Niall, Zayn and Louis

Published by skeptic

One Direction singer Liam Payne dies aged 31 Sign up to Roisin O’Connor’s free weekly newsletter Now Hear This for the inside track on all things music Get our Now Hear This email for free Get our Now Hear This email for free Liam Payne’s former One Direction bandmates have said they are “devastated” over the singer’s sudden death, aged 31, after he fell from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires. Payne, who shot to fame after joining the pop group on reality TV contest The X Factor in 2010 along with Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik and Louis Tomlinson, was described as a “kind, funny and brave soul” in a tribute from his surviving bandmates. Ed Sheeran, who collaborated with Payne on a number of occasions, also shared a brief tribute on Instagram as he admitted he was “at a loss for words” and asked his followers to “be kind”. Payne’s cause of death was revealed in a preliminary autopsy on Thursday 17 October. Photos taken by officials of his hotel room showed …

Take off, touch down, check in: why it’s time to embrace the airport hotel | For the stay

Take off, touch down, check in: why it’s time to embrace the airport hotel | For the stay

Published by Sam

It’s incredible to think that, in 1959, when Hilton opened the world’s first airport hotel, Hilton San Francisco Airport Bayfront, it was a real revelation. The man behind the launch was Barron Hilton, and the hotel’s opening combined his then-position as vice-president of Hilton Hotels with a lifelong fascination with aviation. As a child living in Dallas, Texas, he’d ride his bicycle to a nearby airfield and watch the planes take off and land. “I’d go and stare at those planes, trying to figure out when I’d be able to fly one,” he said later. And, as soon as he could, he did. While stationed with the US navy at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, during the second world war, the 17-year-old Hilton took flying lessons at a civilian air base on the north shore of Oahu. Having earned his twin-engine pilot’s licence in 1946, at the age of just 19, he attended the University of Southern California aeronautical school. Perhaps only a pilot, regularly travelling back and forth to an airfield, could come up with the …

Tenerife Hotel Cleaners Drench Towels Left on Sunbeds

Tenerife Hotel Cleaners Drench Towels Left on Sunbeds

Published by Sam

A person on vacation in Tenerife captured the moment hotel cleaners soaked towels that had been left on sunbeds at a local resort. Footage posted by Tik Tok user @lshucks on June 12 shows cleaners spraying the pool area at Los Olivos Beach Resort in Costa Adeje. In the post’s caption, @lshucks explained the towels were placed on the sunbeds around 8 am “and the folk most likely wont be back until after 10 am as thats when breakfast finishes.” By June 13, the video garnered almost 27,000 views on Tik Tok. Credit: @lshucks via Storyful Source link

Jane Austen fans despair at student digs plan for hotel where she danced | Jane Austen

Jane Austen fans despair at student digs plan for hotel where she danced | Jane Austen

Published by skeptic

Devotees of Jane Austen on both sides of the Atlantic have joined a campaign to save the historic port city hotel where she celebrated her 18th birthday. Plans are afoot to transform the Grade II-listed Dolphin hotel in Southampton, where Austen once danced in the grand ballroom, into student accommodation. Fans of Austen in the UK and much farther afield are lobbying Southampton city council to reject the plans and keep the building, parts of which date back to the 16th century, in a form that would have been recognisable to Austen. The writer is said to have marked her 18th birthday in the ballroom of the Dolphin on 16 December 1793 and is believed to have attended other dances at the venue, a beautiful bow-windowed room on the first floor, later in her life. Austen aficionado Norma Mackey, a member of the Southampton-based Sarah Siddons Fan Club theatre group, said when she first heard of the plan she almost burst into tears. A plaque commemorating Jane Austen, on the Dolphin. Photograph: Andrew Croft/Solent News …

From painting to pasta making — the best weekend hotel workshops in the UK

From painting to pasta making — the best weekend hotel workshops in the UK

Published by skeptic

Known for its lavish yet subdued interiors, alluring art collection and beautiful countryside, Heckfield Place bowls over newcomers, particularly those accustomed to travelling further from London for this style of home-from-home country stay. The hotel has made quite a reputation for itself in the food department, with Sky Glyngall’s Hearth restaurant acting as a masterclass in radically seasonal, simple-yet-sumptuous cooking, and the cocktails aren’t half bad here either, particularly with herbs plucked from the forest floor. That’s exactly how the Foraged Cocktail Making Workshop begins here, with guests foraging the wood like truffle pigs, in search of herbs, plants and flowers that can be used in cocktails. They then head back to base, where Heckfeld Place’s knowledgeable bar team will teach them what to do with their foraged treasures, and whether these work for house-made liqueurs and tinctures too. Source link